The light machine gun is an important infantry firearm. There is a growing demand and tendency to make firearms versatile, i.e. design them for more then one purpose and accordingly it has already been suggested to make dual feed light machine guns that can be fed alternatively by either of a cartridge belt and a magazine.
A light machine gun with such a dual feed is described in IL 51910 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,817. According to that disclosure, the magazine, when used, is inserted essentially from the side, which is a considerable drawback since it renders the light machine gun very inconvenient for carrying and storming.